Right now there’s national conversation about civil rights for transgender people. In the North Country, many schools and workplaces are figuring out how to help everyone feel included. But according to activists in Plattsburgh there’s a long way to go.
Outside a church where a brainstorming session was about to start Wednesday evening, Jamie Young from Plattsburgh lit a cigarette. She started transitioning from male to female back in the 1980s, and now she’s comfortable being herself. But she said her family still doesn’t fully accept her; they still refer to her as “him.” “And there are people like that, where you can debate them until you’re blue in the face, and you’re always wrong and they’re always right,” Young said.
She never experienced any outright hostility or violence. But transitioning was still incredibly hard, and it would’ve been nice to have other trans people to talk to. She came to the meeting see if anyone else was interested in starting a support group–and it turned out, a lot of people were.
“You are among friends. This is a safe place,” said Kelly Metzgar from Saranac Lake. She was one of the lead organizers of the meeting, called Transgender and Gender Non-conforming Town Hall. It’s part of a statewide effort to help trans activists in different areas work together.
Last year, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order protecting transgender people’s rights. That was a major victory. But then came what many activists saw as a setback. In a controversial move, Empire State Pride Agenda, the state’s most powerful LGBTQ civil rights group, disbanded earlier this year. They said they’d accomplished their mission with successes like the legalization of same sex marriage.
That left a vacuum that groups like this are trying to fill. “Transgender advocates are now saying, well, what’s the next thing we should be working on?” said Juli Grey-Owens from Long Island. She’s also part of the town hall project and she led the discussion on Wednesday. “And I guess the best way to find that out is to literally go to the communities and find out what are important to the transgender community.”
She has helped to organize these meetings in Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, and New York City. She said there are also plans in the works for a session in Watertown soon.
In Plattsburgh, about 20 people came up with a long list of priorities. “Do you have a pride parade here in Plattsburgh?” Grey-Owens asked. “Not at all, huh? Wow.”
They also discussed how to spread the word about resources that are available. They hope to find more doctors who offer hormone therapy, which can be dangerous if people do it without supervision. And the group called for more anti-bullying, mental health, and suicide prevention efforts for trans people.
“Are there places where there is–I’m going to use the word–blatant discrimination?” Grey-Owens asked. No one said they experienced anything like that. But Michele Laurin said she had a really hard time convincing a school in Champlain to let her transgender daughter use the women’s bathroom.
Last month the U.S. Department of Education issued a letter saying all public schools have to allow students to use bathrooms and locker rooms “consistent with their gender identity.”
Looking over the evening’s notes on a set of easel boards, Grey-Owens said activists in Plattsburgh have a lot of work to do, “because it just sounds like there’s nothing here.” But she added that the session was a good start, and she hopes to host another town hall here this fall.
*** But she said her family still doesn’t fully accept her; they still refer to her as “him.” “And there are people like that, where you can debate them until you’re blue in the face, and you’re always wrong and they’re always right,” Young said. ***
In this case, his family is objectively RIGHT. There’s nothing to debate. If you have a Y chromosome, then you are a male. Barring rare genetic disorders, it is really just that simple. Getting neutered, having a fake vagina surgically constructed, receiving hormone treatments, and all the demented imagination in the world can’t change REALITY.
Well said. Can’t figure out why this was posted… I’m sick to death of reading about these sadly demented people. In my world you get to call yourself a woman after you’ve bled monthly for at least 20 years. Otherwise shut up.
While I too am disgusted with the League of Pompass Bores, capable of focusing on only their crotches and demanding we worship there too, we may still consider it of some value to be aware of our enemies’ latest desires and movements. We can see in this article there is someone figure orchestrating this little gathering of not-completely-satisfied-in-all-ways group of misanthropes to find new ways to dialoge them to concent in new directions to further undermine the productive uniquely American culture, that may produce upto 1.5% of sexually aberant individuals. Wonder if anyone there could have been employing the Delphi technique there on these twisted fools? There just has to be more unrest, dissatifaction for the facilitator to aggitate. This shows how they operate and manipulate.
“But Michele Laurin said she had a really hard time convincing a school in Champlain to let her transgender daughter use the women’s bathroom.” correction her transgender SON be allowed in a women’s bathroom.
And let’s not forget, I just gotta come and this gosh darn word. :/blatant discrimination. [Insert fake tear now]. WoW
“North Country, many schools and workplaces are figuring out how to help everyone feel included.”
If you want to “feel included”, try keeping your sex life private, as it should be, and stop advertising the fact that you’re an obvious freak of nature that’s unsure of their own gender.
LOOK DOWN, you idiot. Your anatomy identifies your gender, as it does for every other species. We’ve always had Tomboys and sissies, and for the most part they were treated equally by everyone but school kids. Now they’re asking me to change my thoughts and behavior to suit their perversion, and I’m not doing it.